I have been a lover of Japanese woodblock prints since I studied it in art school (high school).

When I started working, I managed to save up to buy a proper reproduction of The Great Wave off Kanazawa by Katsushika Hokusai, printed on beautiful Japanese paper. I bought it through the state art gallery, so it must be somewhat official.

Anyway, I finally managed to find some time to frame my beloved picture. Yay to getting jobs done!

With March just around the corner and a slight change of season in the air, something interesting has happened on a sartorial front.

For the first time in years, I looked at my wardrobe and I didn’t have that dreaded “I have nothing to wear” feeling. It seems that many of the items in my wardrobe are year round staples, slipping me easily into the new season.

I bought this Anine Bing T-shirt about 8 months ago, during winter, and it’s still being cycled through my outfits once a week. It has a very cool, relaxed, worn-look to it. And the more I wear it and wash it, the better it looks!

These Le Color Skinny Jeans by Frame are quite possibly my perfect black jeans. They have an amazing stretch, they hug beautifully around my waist, hips, bottom and crotch, and they don’t pinch when I sit. I had to get them altered, taking them up a bit at the legs, but I do that to all my jeans, since I’m so short. They are so so good.

These Raye slides have absolutely grown on me. I have tossed out my rubber flip-flops and never lookied back.

With such high wearability ratings, they’ve definitely been worthwhile purchases!

All our kids play sport, my husband and I go for a run or cycle, we go out to visit friends, we organise sleepovers and dinner parties, we do lots of jobs and chores around the house, and then there’s homework and assignments to be done too.

Although it’s a bit hectic, life is grand and life is stable.

Anyway as a change of pace, I took one of my boys out to a cafe to do his homework. I didn’t think he would do very well, with all the people, distractions and smells of food, but he was great.

He had a milkshake, enjoyed the change of scene and ploughed through his work.

My coffee was terrible, but I managed to read a few chapters of my book.

I didn’t like the writing style at first. I found it irritatingly pretentious (ha!). But it grew on me. And now I completely adore it. And it’s all flowing and moving at a wonderful pace and slowly gripping at my heart, because I can tell there will be a sad ending.

It’s also inspiring me to brush up a little on my WW2 history and French and German history too. Which is always a good thing for my brain!

A few weeks ago, my whole family took a trip into Northbridge to check out a Video Game and Console Museum called, The Nostalgia Box.

(Photo courtesy of The Nostalgia Box)

My kids – and husband – are a bunch of gaming freaks. Me? I just tolerate video games.

My husband is actually interested in video games on a slightly more intellectual level too; its history, cultural and social impacts, interactive design, blah blah… which has rubbed off a bit on the kids.

So before we left, I told the kids that this was NOT an excursion to a video game arcade. This was a museum, so I expected them to come away having learned something about the history of video games. (Haha I’m so hardcore.)

The place was split into two areas. One was the museum area, more like a historical-timeline walk-through, featuring old consoles and games, and lots of interesting bits of information about the history of video games. You can’t touch any of it though. Everything is behind glass in that section.

The other section was a games area, featuring a whole stack of retro games that you can actually play.

In the Museum Area, I made my 10 year old and 12 year old read ALL the little panels.

I should have quizzed them at the end :)

My 6 year old couldn’t keep up, so I had to paraphrase a few panels, then he skipped off and went to the next section.

I’d say that the museum section wasn’t suitable for little kids, other than to point and show them “these are some of the game consoles that mummy and daddy used to play with”.

Behold the very first commercially released home video game console!

It’s called the Magnavox Odyssey released in 1972. It had no graphics capabilities, just transparent overlays, and it also came with a dice, a deck of cards, play money and poker chips.

The team at The Nostalgia Box did a good job with all the research and information. I found it all to be really interesting!

Did you know that the origins of electronic video games lay in the design of early missile defence system of the 1940s?

There were LOTS of old consoles in amazing condition on display. I loved the ones made out of wood!

Then there were the consoles from the 80s… and I had to cringe, because I remember playing on some of those systems… and they are now in a MUSEUM??

We moved onto the next section, the Gaming Area, and I had a little PONG battle with my husband.

It was hilarious.

My kids had a great time playing all the retro games, like Pacman, Space Invaders, Super Mario Bros, Bubble Bobble, Sonic The Hedgehog and more.

Sure they can play these games online now, but there’s nothing like big chunky, plasticky controllers with big red buttons to take us back to the 80s.

I shed a little tear as I revisited my uppercuts with Ryu and was KO-ed by Ken.

YOU LOSE!!

What struck me the most was the MUSIC.

We listened to all that video game music for hours as a kid. Then what, after 20 something years, hearing one of those tunes again, my brain flipped a little switch and whoop there it is, embedded in my memory – who knows why – major head spinning flashback, hit me like a train, right in the feels, and filled me with such grand nostalgia.

We took funny photos with the props, looked at the cool retro gaming items to buy and chatted to the owner of the museum.

We must’ve spent about 1 – 1.5 hours there.

It was pretty cool!

I definitely recommend it to people who are interested in learning a bit about video game history, or wanting to revisit old favourites, and parents (with kids over 8) wanting to show their kids a different side of video games.

I know I can run a distance of 12km or longer at that pace… and I am still able to function perfectly well for the rest of the day – this is quite important to me. I don’t have time to take a nap in the middle of the day!

But I seemed to be stuck at that pace. Which annoyed me.

So I decided to try out some interval training, where you run for a bit and walk for a bit. Most people advised me to start slow and easy. 2 minute run, 1 minute walk. Or 5 minute run, 2 minute walk.

It’s a bit intense. And they say that you should consult your doctor before you try.

I thought I’d be fine. I do lots of sprinting when I play indoor netball. And I run around until I can’t breathe and my face is red and pounding and I want to throw up. I’m used to doing a few sprints here and there.

So I did this sprint training a few times this week and it was sooooooo much fun!

I enjoyed it so much because it was such a thrill to move my whole body so quickly.

It was also humbling because I realised how quickly my legs just gave up.

I can sprint really fast ONCE, then my next sprint is slower, then each sprint after that is slower still, then I’m a quivering wreck because I’m so tired.

Yes yes, parenting is incredible. Being a parent is amazing blah blah blah.

But sometimes parenting is shitty.

LIKE REALLY SHITTY.

Sometimes my kids make me sooo00000oo fuuuuuuuuriously mad that I’m constantly screaming and shouting at them. I turn into this monster I can’t recognise. Angry shit comes out of my mouth and I hate myself for it.

Why do I even have to SAY things like:

…Don’t throw knives at the kitchen door!!!!

…Don’t walk through the house with muddy shoes!!!!

…Don’t draw on the furniture with permanent markers!!!!

…What are you THINKING when you do things like that????

It feels like a part of me dies when I have to say things a hundred times over. Again and again and again and again. All day I’m chasing them around the house being a horrible, shouty, nagging mother.

…Put your plates away.

…Pick up after yourself.

…Don’t leave your towels on the floor.

…Don’t eat straight from the cereal box!

…Don’t leave your school bag in the doorway!

…Don’t leave your shoes lying around in the hall!

…Is it so hard to rinse your own cup and put it on the dish rack!?

So it’s time to set some CONSEQUENCES right?

Big consequences. So that they’ll learn to focus on their actions, right?

Like “ZERO screen-time for a WEEK!” How’s that for a consequence?

Problem is that they rack up 4 weeks worth of ZERO SCREEN-TIME… and now what? Who has to enforce it? That’s right! Us!

Sometimes I can’t see the end of the tunnel. Each day is a slow, painful slog through bickering, fights, rules, discipline, homework, moods, shouting, tantrums, tears.